Don’t Drive Blindly; How to Navigate the Retail Road Clearly and Strategically with Retail Intelligence

By Maureen - December 21, 2011 - Published under: Retail Insights ,Retail Solutions

Have you ever been driving, on a rainy, muddy day, when your windscreen washer bottle was out of fluid, and you simply could not see the road the ahead?

Frustrating, isn’t it?

By contrast, a bright, clear day with an unmistakable, 360-degree view of the road ahead, and a vehicle that is well tuned and humming, is a pleasure. You can anticipate potholes and take corrective action; you can chart your course preemptively and strategically; you don’t have to waste time and resources on unnecessary mishaps.

Which car do you prefer?

The retail world is not much different. In times of prosperity, retailers thrive and the need for actionable metrics is often ignored. People hum along; not paying much attention to their important key performance indicators money is flowing.

But times have changed. The financial climate is daunting. And retailers have been left without any windscreen washer bottle fluid.

The typical retailer cannot see the road ahead; without a more sophisticated picture of what is going on, he will likely crash.

All retailers use a retail EPOS system of some sort. Most stores are equipped with some standard retail reporting tools. And most of these retail solutions manage the transaction process adequately. Scanning, receipts, cash balances, etc. are tallied and tracked to the extent required.

But this process is flat, and the data it gleans is one-dimensional.

Retailers need rich and varied retail intelligence in a useable, actionable format, available in real-time to the right people, for corrective action to be taken.

TRC and Swift Retail Intelligence can provide this information.

Swift Retail Intelligence offers:

• A 360-degree retail insights perspective to all retailers.
• Seamless integration with retail EPOS software and other data sources (spreadsheets, CRM, accounting, etc.) systems.
• Succinct, consolidated, informative retail reporting, on-demand or at a scheduled time, via email, web page or to any mobile device.

This is a revolutionary development in the retail industry. To this point, there has been a dramatic absence of capability relative to analytics, forecasting and visibility. Most existing front-end retail EPOS solutions provide flat, limited data that simply doesn’t arm retailers with the retail insights they need to drive strategic decision-making.

Most retail EPOS systems do not generate data that helps retailers to:

Make a decision as to the allocated shelf space to various departments
Match staff ROTA’s with the EPOS data to provide optimum staffing
Adjust pricing of a product based on performance

These limitations hold retailers back and stifle future growth. A retail intelligence product like Swift is an easy add-on that helps to drive business and fill the gaps above.

By plugging into a retail intelligence solution, retailers ultimately prolong the useable life of their retail EPOS system and save thousands in capital spend.

Don’t drive blindly. Download your free Retail Intelligence Report to get a taste of the power that your clear retail intelligence windscreen can unleash to drive your strategic decision-making.

 

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